


Paradiso

by Pass1onAndH0pe



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horrortale, Animal Death, Blood and Gore, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Multiple headcanons, Other, Sadism, Torture, Verbal Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-16
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-07-24 09:25:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 9,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7503000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pass1onAndH0pe/pseuds/Pass1onAndH0pe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This series has long been coded by me as the "forbidden fic" for the scenes it contains. It started small and has since grown bigger as what usually happens with my work. Please be careful reading this. I'm not responsible for your nightmares, so look at the tags, and maybe don't read before you sleep. (Chapter number is an estimate)</p><p>That said, this is me exploring what it's like to live as HorrorTale Sans day in and out. Will contain appearances from other characters exploring headcanons surrounding what's become of them in this AU. HorrorTale credit belongs to sour-apple-studios on tumblr!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. It's Calling

Another day. Sans woke up, and the first feeling to greet him involved the blossom of pain inside his skull. It always hurt worst at first before fading to a dull thud. All part of the routine. His brother wouldn’t be awake for another few hours.

Sans went outside where it was quiet, and dead. Nothing was seen creeping around the house. To be expected, but he still found himself walking the same trail through the woods, and through town. No monsters had dared to tread close to their house in years. He’d given them enough reason not to.

Next, Sans started west heading deeper into Snowdin forest. There was the familiar clawing in his stomach of hunger. His brother came first, however. He passed by Grillby’s whose lights hadn’t been on since the place was stormed for food. Grillby had barely made it out alive. Guy had a kid to care for, after all. Sans had never kept his promise to check on him in Hotland.

He crept past the bunny shopkeeper’s place knowing to cut his losses. Sans only bartered there when the time called for it. Was he scared? No. Just can’t afford the fuss with how he was now. Maybe a few years ago he could have… Well, now wasn’t the time for wishing.

Deeper in the forest, Sans checked his traps. Some were sprung but empty. Some had mangled remains in them where someone else had chewed on the catch. At least one had been left whole. It would work for today. Resetting the traps, Sans headed for the river checking his lines. A few rewards for his continued patience, even if Papyrus complained about the odd taste. Not to be helped.

Loaded with his catch of the day, Sans had an after-thought to check the door to the Ruins. He couldn’t waste time going right up to it, so he went as far as Papyrus’ old post. No tracks in the snow, and it would take forever for them to be covered. This far away, he couldn’t hear any of the usual noises.

Sans arrived home and checked that Papyrus still had not woken. Going to his lab, he went through the gutting process. Monsters, even if they be magic, still had some physical form to feed themselves with. At least, as far as Sans had dared to figure out. 

The kitchen belonged to Papyrus- he didn’t want to dirty it with _this_. This which he had been forced into doing in order to keep him and his brother alive. The thing he had to _lie_ about constantly. Sans went about his work through muscle memory. He’d stopped being guilty a long time ago. Only sometimes the faintest hint of the feeling came to him.

Fresh meat wrapped up in a package, Sans re-entered the house. He could hear Papyrus stirring in his room. Soon, he would be down to start breakfast. Sans shoved the package into the near-empty freezer. Keeping quiet, he returned to his room to wait for Papyrus to come get him calling him “lazybones” like oldtimes.

Sitting down on his bed, Sans felt his bones settle. Waiting was always the worst part, nowadays. Waiting meant his mind could grow restless. Restlessness was like a plague down here- it drove you to do things you’d rather forget. Restlessness led to rage fueled by hunger that never seemed satisfied with whatever you found to eat. Or hunted in his case.

Papyrus came knocking and calling. Sans got off the bed and answered the call with a rusty faux casual reply. Anything to keep his brother happy and himself together.

Walking down the staircase, Sans felt a dripping sensation off his chin. Suspecting the usual cause, he rubbed above his mouth finding blood on his fingers. Another nosebleed, wouldn’t be a regular day without one. As if the open crack in his skull wasn’t enough. He cleaned his face the best he could with Papyrus not looking and went to breakfast.


	2. Witch Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is where the animal death comes in.

Sans pounded mercilessly against the wooden board with his foot. It had been part of a crudely made trap now torn apart. One of the first traps he had ever made, and it managed to survive for years. Time and again it had been tripped but no catch. Today was different! There was a catch, and Sans was going to let them know what he thought about getting duped for _years_.

He brought his foot down hard against the wood. The only sign of anything underneath were the faint whimpers and yelps. The creature struggled at first, but as time wore on, its struggles ceased as it lost form and feeling in its limbs. Sans ground his heel in muttering curses and swears. The constant headache accompanying him everywhere throbbed in unison with his words, with every hit. A familiar dark thrall had overcome his logic and reason.

Sans tired of stomping and summoned a femur. Wielding it with both hands, he brought it down breaking through the wood and feeling it tear through flesh. A muffled yelp came as a reply and no more. The skeleton left the femur pierced down into the ground. He straightened and huffed, observing the matted mound of red flesh and blood. It was dying the surrounding snow in a sloppy red circle. The worst of the kill lie hidden under the broken pieces of the wooden board.

Still in the middle of sobering from the event, Sans suddenly heard a steady dripping as something wet fell onto the snow. He knew what was up, and snorted. The skeleton watched emotionless as blood sprayed out onto the former object of his aggression. The headache throbbed worse than before for a few agonizing minutes. He remained still letting his body find the balance between living and pain again. The nosebleed stopped once equilibrium was reached.

He grumbled and turned away beginning to walk home. Along the way, Sans stopped to clean his face with snow. Papyrus never asked about the nosebleeds anymore, but Sans did it as a courtesy. Heh, heh, what if he got blood on one of his brother’s puzzles? That wouldn’t be nice of him. Nope, better keep himself clean as he could care to be.


	3. It’s My Soul Up There

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smells like rotten sushi.

Sans reclined on the couch which had faded to a pale green with age. The TV was switched on to show static and snow on its screen. The Underground had no need for stars. The one in particular had become obsolete. A faint memory tried to bubble up in Sans’ mind, but it fell back into the subconscious. If it was worth anything it would come back.

Papyrus was in the kitchen making dinner. The day had been normal as it got down here. The TV static kept Sans from becoming relaxed so restlessness could be avoided. Breaking the fabricated sense of calm was the sound of three strong knocks on the front door.

Sans’ grin twisted down into a frown. He recognized those authoritative fist poundings. Papyrus went to answer the door, and Sans refused to turn his head to look.

“AH! UNDYNE! A PLEASANT SURPRISE!”

“Yeah, yeah, move aside.” Undyne shoved her way inside. No doubt she had her spear with her. Sans remained motionless as he could feel her notice him sitting there. He refrained from the urge to strike her where she stood. His headache kept a steady tempo. Steady, _steady_.

“Since you haven’t reported anything _new_ to me I can only assume you’ve been sitting there in the forest setting up puzzles.”

“YOU ARE QUITE RIGHT IN YOUR ASSUMPTION! ALTHOUGH, I HAVE BEEN MEANING TO MAKE A PUZZLE RIGHT THERE AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE RUINS! I ALWAYS SEEM TO FORGET.”

“A puzzle? Right there? It could be like a snare. That’s _brilliant_ Papyrus!” The sound of someone being grabbed harsh by the scarf. “ _THEN WHY DON’T YOU STOP WASTING YOUR TIME AND-_ ”

Undyne snapped her head around to catch the stare she felt. Sans’ red pupil threatened to cut through her. She stared back, unafraid, and as a result Papyrus became deadweight in her grasp. The smaller skeleton’s smile seemed static like the television. Make your move, Empress Undick, the ball is in your court. Take another step or finish your sentence. Undyne turned her eye back to Papyrus.

“ _NYOO HOO HOO!_ ”

“Just remember to put that snare- _puzzle_ in place tomorrow.” She let go and glanced back at Sans. He had gone back to staring at the TV as if nothing had happened.

“NYOO HOO HOO! THE GREAT PAPYRUS SHALL TRY HIS BEST!”

“I’ll see you two some other time.” Undyne didn’t let herself get shaken easily. She had an iron-clad fist, steel will, and mind like a welded steel trap. That’s what made it so easy to play mind games with her, Sans had figured out. It was amusing to make Undyne paranoid about him assassinating her.

There were ample reasons he refused to just go ahead and do it. The foremost one being Papyrus would lose his purpose in life. Without the Royal Guard what reason would he have for making his puzzles? Sans couldn’t allow it to happen so he let Undyne walk out the door.

Papyrus went back to the kitchen resuming his task. Sans closed his eye sockets breathing a sigh. The memory from before bubbled back. It whispered, as bygone memories do, something about Alphys and the robot. Sans didn't pay the memory much attention, and it fell back to silence. The unsteady peace of their tortured existence continued.


	4. God’s Away on Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A human fell down recently. Not Eliza but another.

You sat at the table as the large goat monster asked you to do. Everything that had happened was still making your head feel fuzzy and overwhelmed. You hadn't come to the mountain expecting when you fell you would be healed and asked to stay for dinner. To be treated so nicely came as a shock, and you didn't know how to react. She doesn't seem to mind how quiet you are. She talks enough for two.

She ladled soup into a bowl. It smelled acrid and inedible causing you to hide a gag. Toriel asks what you're waiting for. You must eat to regain the strength her magic could not restore.

You picked up the spoon, you used it, but you still couldn't force yourself to eat. The next second you found a knife dug into your thigh.

 

The sneer on his skull widened as he saw in the snow fresh tracks. A human had crawled their way past Toriel, and they were bleeding. Sans had been in the area checking for signs of a human before Papyrus woke up. What a pleasant surprise to wake up to! He followed the trail, watching as it moved off the main path and into the woods. Oh, they were in for a treat in _his woods_. No sane monster set foot there for it served as reserved hunting grounds.

Sans caught up to the human and observed from the treeline where they knelt in the clearing. They were too large to be a child, perhaps a teenager. Smart enough to bandage the leg wound with cloth torn from their clothes. The leg wound was too fresh for all their running so they weren’t too smart. Sans noted their ashen skin covered in places with light burns still recent. Heh, heh, a runaway.

“hey pal.” The human turned around and their eyes went wide with fright.

“ _Don’t-_ ”

“whuzzat?” Sans jokingly held a hand up to an imaginary ear. The human’s voice rose enough to be heard.

“ _I-I_ changed my…mind…..”

“kid. i haven’t.” The human scrambled up to their feet and fled. Sans followed suit at a steady pace. There was no need to over-exert himself. He already knew where the human was running to. His patience rewarded him with a scream. Then another, and another, just one long note after the other.

Sans found the source of agony. The human had their good leg caught in a bear trap previously hidden by the snow. He walked up hands tucked away in pockets. The human quit their incoherent screaming and started yelling for help. Fresh blood was making its slow way down onto the snow.

“ _PLEASE! IS THERE SOMEONE THERE?_ ” As pleasing as it was to hear, Sans couldn’t stand the screaming much longer. It pierced his skull, and made his headache throb in tandem. Funny how pain could be shared in such a way.

“pal, you didn’t let me finish back there. now look at ya.”

“You’ll- _You’ll help me?_ ” Their voice became a squeak from the flood of relief Sans saw they felt.

“sure. i just need to find the key.” In relief, the human began to cry. They watched him walk out of view as he looked for the right tree. Never had enough spare keys lying around out of sight.

When Sans came back they shrieked. He held aloft an axe befitting a skeleton of his size, and walked over to his trapped prey. He stood menacingly over them expecting at least a tremble or other sign of imminent despair. The human didn’t move, Sans guessed either from blood-loss or fear. It didn’t matter.

“didn’t you learn that bear traps don’t have keys?”

Sans swung the axe in an arch cleanly cutting the trapped leg off. Before the human could utter any impulsive sounds of terror, he hacked again at their neck. The blow brought their recoiling body to the ground. The head rolled off into the snow with a few accompanying thumps. He refrained from continuing to dismember the body until getting a better look. Not everything could be taken home, but most of it was still good. Today was a good day in paradise.


	5. Starving in the Whale's Belly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It sucks to be stuck somewhere where things never change. It's worse to be reminded your time down there is limited.

He woke up, as usual, very early. No dreams and little sleep. As the headache began to awaken, Sans noticed something different this morning. Were his bones always so heavy? He held up a hand and watched the way it was shaking. The skeleton forced himself to sit up on the mattress meaning to investigate further.

The pain in his head swelled instantly and pinned him back down. He tried to process what was happening. The confusion at the sudden change managed to stun him. He could only react, and react he did, when the newfound intense pressure migrated to his face. _Goddammit was this the fucking perfect time to get a nosebleed._

It started at a slow gurgle, but the blood kept coming steady and strong as a faucet. Sans ended up coughing and shifting to a position to allow better flow. Like Hell he was going to drown in his own blood. The painful sensation of it forcing itself out numbed with time.

The only thing left to do was watch and wait. His mattress, and what few bedsheets he had tossed aside, were dyed red. Headache throbbing in tandem, Sans muttered and turned to cursing inwardly when muttering proved counter-productive. Anxiety began to nibble at him first targetting the fact he had been prevented from doing his morning routine centered on keeping himself, and his brother, fed and safe.

Anxiety then targeted Papyrus. Sans had no measure of time, but his brother **could not** see this. He had worked too hard for a return to normalcy; it could not be jeopardized by a stupid nosebleed. Sans gagged and adjusted himself for he had shifted while lost in thought.

The blood began to trickle off leaving him exhausted. He tried to sit up, taking it slow as could be managed. Yep, the heaviness in his bones wasn’t going away. Sans then eased himself back down and gripped the side of his skull, digging into the eye socket. He wanted it to go away. The pain, the frustration, the tiredness. Everything had already gone wrong, and this was just kicking the-

“ _SANS!_ COME ON YOU LAZYBONES! TIME FOR BREAKFAST!” Fear stopped Sans from thinking further. Papyrus wasn’t allowed to open the door. To see this mess. He racked his brain for a way to keep him out. The solution came at a painful price.

“THERE ARE PUZZLES TO BE MADE, BROTHER! YOU KNOW THIS!” Papyrus continued staring at the door. Arms dangling at his sides, he considered what to do since Sans remained unresponsive. Things must be done the hard way, eh?

Papyrus began reaching for the doorknob when a femur blossomed out of the door. He froze to register the resounding crack of broken wood. Seconds ticked by as it was his turn to be unresponsive. Turning away at last, the taller skeleton took his gaze off the door.

“I SEE. I SHALL INQUIRE AS TO YOUR WHEREABOUTS LATER.”

Sans detected the faintest hint of defeat in Papyrus’ voice. It stung him, and he sent curse after curse upon Undyne. He turned the anger upon himself as he listened to Papyrus leave the house. Anger for letting certain things slide one too many times during the past few years. Promises were meant to be broken, but Sans made a fragile one to never be in a situation to express such silent disdain towards his brother again. It threatened to rack him with enough self hate to span years, but he swallowed it.

The skeleton managed to pull himself into a sitting position. His head swam to stabilize itself. He took in the amount of blood he had shed, and how weak he felt. It would take work, but he could manage to clean and cover up the bloodied mattress before Papyrus came to see him. Sans heaved a sigh, and a pang from his headache reminded him not to be so hasty at doing anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To give some more insight about the nosebleeds: Sans started having them after the incident involving his cracked skull and losing his gravity magic. They come whenever he's really agitated or overworked (sometimes at random just to be a pain in the ass). Because of the nosebleeds and such, if Sans overworks himself and doesn’t stop he will die from exhaustion/blood loss. Sans avoids fighting as much as possible preferring instead tricks or underhanded methods.


	6. Crossroads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone gets a beatdown.

Dressed and armed in some manner, Sans made his way to the forest. The urge to maim, to feel flesh between his fingers, burned inside his soul. It made him twitch and almost yank his head off as he gripped onto it. Deep in the woods he knew Papyrus wouldn’t find him. His brother busied himself with puzzlemaking this time of day.

It was here Sans let himself break loose. The skeleton dug his fingers deep into the snow scraping at the soil. He began to claw at it his vision tinted red. Internally, he felt the innate sense of bloodlust remain dissatisfied. Neither snow nor soil had the consistency it desired to mimic flesh or bone. **Bone.**

A femur appeared in his hand. Sans snapped it easily in two. He summoned another and snapped it just as easily. The repeated process wasn’t enough; he needed something more. The skeleton trudged on coming to find a trap he had set earlier in the morning had a catch.

Another monster was gnawing on the catch. Sans pulled out a pair of brass knuckles cast of heavy iron. The interloper couldn’t have been easier to stalk up next to. He held up a fist and brought it down heavily onto the side of their head. No reaction as the skeleton proceeded to make mincemeat of their face. Bone, flesh, teeth, he reduced it to its basic components. Sans only heard faintly the sound of someone screaming, or maybe yelling.

He shucked off the knuckles and dug into a pocket pulling out a knife. It wasn’t a standard kitchen knife; this survival knife had been dug up from the dump. Sans started carving ignoring how heavy his breathing had become. He only desired to get _ahead of schedule_ and just pick out the choicest pieces.

 

Sans dragged the carcasses through the snow. He’d cleaned himself up, including the resulting nosebleed, and was thinking how best to sneak past Papyrus to the house. Monster meat acted differently than regular meat. It never lasted as long refrigerated, for one thing.

The skeleton paused in his trek. He thought he heard a wail rising through the calm quiet of the forest. Setting down his burden, Sans concentrated on listening to the noise past the thud of his headache. Had another snare been tripped elsewhere? Or maybe a human this time around bemoaning their existence?

It was Papyrus. The realization struck Sans with surprise and shame. He ignored his impulse to run long enough to hide and bury their dinner in a snowdrift next to a tree. The closer he drew to the source the easier it was to hear above his headache. Panic had seized him, but his instincts were still sharp. Sans crept into the shadow of an evergreen keen on observing his brother.

Papyrus knelt in the snow, face downwards as he continued to wail and sniffle. Undyne wasn’t around. There were no fresh tracks or blood in the snow. No one to punish or maim in sight. Sans took a breath and relaxed enough to come across as casual.

“pap. pap!” Sans called his brother’s attention as he walked into the clearing. Papyrus turned towards him fresh tears still on his face.

“ _NYOO HOO HOO._ OH, SANS!”

“yeah i’m here, bro.” The smaller skeleton offered a smile of comfort. He wiped off the tears with the cleanest part of his jacket sleeve. Papyrus sighed and looked back down at the snow where his gloved hands were buried.

“MY PUZZLES AREN’T AS GREAT AS I SAY THEY ARE, ARE THEY? IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE, THEY’LL JUST WALK ON BY! UNDYNE WILL NEVER-” Papyrus unconsciously flinched. Sans muttered something out of the corner of his mouth. “SANS. IS THERE ANY POINT TO WHAT I DO?”

Sans never heard Papyrus question much anymore. It came as a mild surprise. He mused so long Papyrus looked up at him.

“Pap, you’re the only one who can be trusted with this job. without you there’s no puzzles. Undyne might not say it, but we need your puzzles. we need you, Pap, and i need you most,” Sans said brandishing his best smile. Papyrus smiled back, and for a fleeting instant, he looked like his old self. The look remained only an instant, but Sans had seen it. Helping Papyrus stand up out of the snow, he kept smiling knowing, or feeling rather, he was protecting something worthwhile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Monster flesh isn’t the best thing to eat. Its taste depends on how it is prepared, and it only gives the illusion of a full stomach. If a human were to eat it, they wouldn’t be filled at all. A monster, however, benefits from feeling at most a little fuller. The flesh of a monster simply doesn’t have enough physical matter to fill a stomach. Human and animal meat does the exact opposite which is why human meat is so prized.


	7. Something Whisper in Your Ear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chase scenes never lose their thrill, do they?

He had been outside taking his usual trail through the woods near the house. Sans, now, was staring down at the snow. Something felt off about this patch, and yet there were no tracks. He squinted and knelt to get a better look. His instincts typically never deceived about anything.

In the blinding white of snow, Sans spotted an evergreen twig. It would have been obsolete had not he lived in a place that never changes. The trees here don’t give up what they have so easy. Someone was around, and they were covering their tracks. An unconscious grin spread across his face.

Sans stood up and rummaged through his pockets. He pulled out a stiletto knife checking its blade and making sure it would flip into the open with no delay. Satisfied, the skeleton tucked the knife into his sleeve and began tracking his evident prey.

 

The girl stopped walking to catch her breath. The tree limb was heavy, but she couldn’t risk being followed by whatever else lurked in these woods. She wished there were bushes to hide in so she could get better rest. The girl started to regret turning away from the buildings she had seen a while back. The trees here all looked the same, and she wasn’t good enough at climbing to hide in them. For once in her life, she missed a hardwood floor and four solid walls.

A growl came from behind her. The girl turned and hefted up her tree limb as some sort of weapon. It wouldn’t do her any good against the creature she saw standing a few feet away. Standing on four hoofed legs, the massive monster huffed steam wisps out of its sideways mouth. Clenched inside its maw were rows of sharp teeth meant for tearing and not feeding on the trees around them.

Aside from its enlarged antlers with wicked points, the most unsettling thing about the monster were its multitude of eyes. Some round and some narrow, their pupils remained fixated on her. How had she not heard this thing approach earlier?

The girl and monster stared each other down. They waited for either one to make a move. The girl did, tossing her weapon and turning to run.

 

Sans watched in amusement as Gyftrot let out a shrill bugle and give chase. It amazed him how fast the human could run from such a large beast. He guessed the sound of Gyftrot’s thundering hooves served as inspiration for her adrenaline. The skeleton followed in their wake at a casual pace, tapping his fingers rhythmically against his thigh. He didn’t care for table scraps, but maybe he could work some magic.

A high pitched squeal came from somewhere up ahead. Sans kept to the shadows best he could as the noise was followed by thuds which shook the ground. Coming upon the scene, he took time to study what had happened. Gyftrot’s antlers were caught in the trees; the left was embedded fully into a trunk, and the right at an angle had a few tines entrapped by branches. The monster gnashed its teeth and stomped in lieu of struggling free for he had been caught at a painful angle. Too much in the wrong direction could snap his neck.

The human sat on the ground recovering from the escape. It seemed the soles of her feet had been scraped bloody. Sans decided to have the most fun he could with this.

“hey, kid.” The girl looked around for the source of the voice. “i see how tired you are. seems you could use some help.”

The hopeful look growing on her face wilted when he appeared in front of her.

“gifts need _ribbons_ y’see?” With a wave of his hand, large ribs sprouted from the ground around Gyftrot embedding their sharp ends inside his flesh. He wheezed a squeal of pain as they tugged at his body. The monster’s neck snapped audibly, and the human wasted no time in getting up to start running. Sans watched her go, then turned to face the corpse of Gyftrot. It was too much meat to drag home at once. He still, also, had the kid to catch. He felt a little perturbed at leaving such a big meal alone, but he would have to.

 

She ran as fast she could. The sight of seeing the skeleton kill another monster wouldn’t leave her mind be. At times, she even thought she saw him standing ahead of her, but she knew it wasn’t real. The girl was scared, too scared to think straight; that’s all there was to it. She needed to get somewhere and hide. Forget about everything happening to her today for as long as she could.

A wooden house came into view. She didn’t see a front door, but spotted what looked like a cellar entrance. When she gave a closer inspection, the latch on it revealed to be unlocked. The girl used both hands to lift it open. A stale scent wafted up from below, and she recognized the smell of rot and filth.

She climbed down the ladder rungs not giving a second thought. The girl reasoned, if she had lived in filth before, why would hiding here be any different? Her life was at stake. Descended to the floor, she turned away from the ladder and felt a scream stop up her throat.

The small room looked reminiscent of a butchery. Except, splatters from cut meat had never been cleaned away, and the unchoice slabs were left rotting inside a cardboard box. A big unseen object remained hidden from sight in a corner by curtains stained beyond their original color. The only clean thing in sight were the instruments by which the killing had been made. The girl felt her knees buckle underneath her.

“well isn’t that _polite of you_? it just so happens, kid, i need you to stay down there. be with you soon as i can.” His voice came from above. She looked up in time to see the cellar hatch slam shut. Her hideaway had become a tomb.


	8. Sleeping is Giving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Isn't this a weird sense of deja vu?

The girl sat on the ground recovering from the escape. It seemed the soles of her feet were scraped bloody. She had made it back here to this point in time. Whispered warnings from the strange flower echoed in her mind as she fought to keep herself composed for what would happen next.

“hey, kid.” The girl looked around for the source of the voice hoping to get lucky and see him. “i see how tired you are. seems you could use some help.”

The nervous look growing on her face grew into terror when he appeared in front of her.

“gifts need _ribbons_ y’see?” With a wave of his hand, large ribs sprouted from the ground around the other monster embedding their sharp ends inside its flesh. Wheezing in pain and shock, the monster’s neck snapped audibly. The girl wasted no time in getting up to put space between herself and the killer. She stepped back a considerable distance and watched as the skeleton chose not to immediately chase her. In fact, he watched her in silence as if studying a wild creature in its natural habitat.

The girl tensed and hugged her arms to fight off the cold. Standing her ground this time might be what changes things for the better.

“aw lookit you, standing there starin’ at me. i expected you to run, but i guess it’s hard with your hurt feet now, isn’t it?” The skeleton held up a bony hand to the side of his face. He tapped fingers along his jaw bone the singular red pupil nailing her to the spot. She figured responding quick would be the best choice.

“Why?” The girl spat out the hardest question she could think of. She had used it before to bewilder and confound people on purpose. A regular person brushed it off, but these kind of people had volatile reactions. If this skeleton was the same as them, then maybe she stood a chance while he was distracted.

“of all the things she says it’s _why_ , she says?” His grin straightened to a uniform line of teeth no longer amused. Filling the spaces in the trees around them were tall ribs cutting off her escape routes. “it’s a deep question for sure. why do i have to kill to feed myself and my bro? why do i have to _work so hard_ at hiding what i really do out in the woods? why do i hoard weapons i might _never need_? why do i bother with following this _rotten_ kingdom’s laws when i could _easily_ make my living out in the woods _away from it all_?”

His voice kept growing to a crescendo until she feared he would end her life when he finished. Instead, the skeleton paused as if to recollect himself. The ribs disappeared back into the earth. He heaved a few sighs, then his mouth curved back into a smile. The tapping on his jaw bone, and his outburst, reminded her of the last death she had suffered.

“what’s with that look?” The skeleton narrowed his eye sockets. The girl couldn’t take it anymore, and she drew back another step. Fear and terror as memories bubbled up forced her to reveal her true feelings. _That’s a touchy subject down here_ , echoed a voice in her mind.

He looked surprised a few seconds before his grin became a grotesque sneer. The ground beneath her feet shook. Sharpened femurs erupted from the snow and pierced her fragile form killing her instantly. All thought snapped off in her mind in the span of an instant.

 

Sans watched the human’s body fall to the ground with a plop. He felt an urge to mutilate the remains, but he resisted. Fresh meat was hard to come by, and he couldn’t pass this up. As he walked forwards to claim his kill, a voice called out from the treeline.

“Sans! What are you doing?” Undyne stepped into view. She frowned and had a disgusting authoritative tone about herself. It came off worse than the fur lined coat she wore to ward off the cold. He stood beside the body letting his arms drop to his sides. The stiletto remained hidden in his jacket sleeve.

“what’s it look like?”

“Killing a human and NOT telling me, or alerting anyone else for that matter.”

“guilty as charged, but remember? i got a brother to feed, and it just isn’t right to let him go hungry.”

Undyne lifted her spear and pointed at him in anger. Sans wasn’t fazed by how enraged she appeared to be getting. Treason, and whatever else she wanted to charge him with, be damned.

“As your EMPRESS I’ll be taking the human’s body so I can have the soul!”

The skeleton picked at his teeth with the stiletto’s endpoint after flipping it out with casual grace. He eyed Undyne with a neutral expression wondering how much trouble the meat was worth. Sans gave a reply when he drew a calm conclusion.

“what if i challenge you for it?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's right, this is a cliffhanger. I decided it'd be lovely to see how ridiculously intense Sans gets when messing with Undyne. I also might reference as to Alphys' whereabouts.


	9. Wake Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ding-dong, it's time to play a game! Mainly Undyne POV for spooky reasons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With my lightnin’ bolts a glowin’  
> I can see where I am goin’ to be-  
> when the reaper he reaches and touches my hand.

Undyne shrugged on the fur lined coat and started out of her private chamber. There wasn’t much to do being ruler. Sometimes she would pass the waking hours sparring with her Royal Guardsmen in the throne room. Through countless battles they had become battle scarred and even moreso battle ready. Their loyalty unshakable, she even felt at random the same, but such a soft emotion never stayed long. Rulers had no need to be soft.

There was her other pastime, too: checking on Alphys in her lab. Undyne paused in the middle of walking down a hallway. She cast her gaze over the quiet city of New Home, thinking. Taking care of Alphys had, at first, appealed to her all those years ago. Currently, it felt like a chore she preferred to put off. Would she give anything to chuck the responsibility onto someone else?

No. Even if Alphys frustrated her, and made her mad, Undyne couldn’t let go. The little monster might be the last good thing she had control of. She continued her walk and entered the elevator which descended to the abandoned resort. Maybe her boredom could be cured by a visit to her kingdom.

 

“Challenge? _Me?_ As in a duel?” Undyne growled and glared with her single eye. Sans continued to stand across from her, appearing calm which further aggravated her.

“no, no, i could never match up to royalty. i was thinkin’ maybe a good ole fashion game of hide n’ seek? eh, Empress?”

To be blunt, the idea was baffling and stupid. Just like his sarcastic tone.

“Are you even being serious, Sans?”

“oh, i’m very serious and very good at it. what, can’t take the idea of being beaten at a game for babybones?”

He was goading her, Undyne knew it. She could simply pierce him, and be done with the entire situation, but she held back. Something about this preposition intrigued her. Maybe, if she did win, she would assert her dominance over one of the few remaining rebels in the Underground.

“Fine. If I win, I get the human’s corpse. What’s your catch?” Undyne dismissed her spear in a small act of humility. Sans’ red pupil roved around the clearing as he contemplated. Nearby, the large dead monster sagged into the snow.

“eh, i don’t really want anything, but if you lose you can’t get the body. so, _how’s about we get started_?”

It bugged her, how this was his one chance to humiliate her via a pact, and he still chose to be lazy about it. Undyne sighed and watched as Sans disappeared from sight. She looked around and saw the human’s body had vanished as well. Sans never had been patient.

Muttering under her breath, Undyne started trudging through the snow summoning a spear to help obscure her tracks. There was a cabin in the Snowdin forest. She had checked on it before, and considered putting a sentry there in case a human happened to wander that deep into the forest. Alas, there were no sentries to spare, and from what she heard over the years, it was hard for people to get anywhere near this far inside.

The cabin came into view after a time. Undyne approached and opened the door shutting it behind her. The monster who used to live here more than likely either died or ventured out to the capital in search of food never returning. She observed the quaint living room and kitchen. Seeing a closet underneath the staircase, Undyne approached and opened it. The junk inside shifted making her almost jump. She closed the door resisting the urge to slam it. From outside, there came the sound of snow being crunched underfoot.

Using her spear, Undyne vaulted upstairs avoiding the risk of any creaky steps. There, she found a bed with a box-like bedframe. This would work, she figured, and went through the trouble of squeezing under it. Undyne gripped the frame with her hands, and lifted herself off the floor, just in case. Her feet in place, the wait began. It came as no surprise Sans found the location- he was about her only decent rival in the Underground.

 

The back door to the cabin could be heard creaking open. There came the sound of softened footsteps and a slam as the door shut itself. Rustling of a tablecloth being flipped up and everything underneath being checked. A few minutes pause.

Four thuds as something collided with the rafters. The sound of breaking glass as a window shattered somewhere. A door inside the house opened and shut within seconds. Another paused started but stopped as footsteps started up the staircase. The number of stairs and audible footsteps didn’t match as they came to stop at the top.

Bones pierced the bed in random places. No cries of pain or any sort of reaction besides the mattress and whatnot being broken. The bones disappeared, but the person in front of the bed stayed.

“i know you’re there, Empress. you know your dog fur coat sheds? i guess the idea of them shedding even after death _is_ kind of a surprise.” A shuffling sound as he descended the staircase. “welp, i need to _cut out_ and store all the meat. i thought i heard noises from Grillby’s place a while back so see ya around, Undyne.”

She dropped to the floor and heaved up the bed in a fit of fury. Undyne glared at the floorboards looking for the dog fur that had betrayed her position only to find nothing but dust bunnies. Now angry and confused, she looked harder to find the white hairs fallen from her coat, but nothing was there. A door slammed shut as she let out an angry scream.

Undyne cast off the coat and ripped it to shreds with her bare hands. She had been tricked, spared, and made an even worse fool of than any time in recent history. Sans would get his one day. When the time came, she would break his bones and crush his skull in one hand finishing the job she started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Cause she just got dunk'd on. Yeah, Sans lied to lure her out of her hiding spot. And, he knows she's too prideful and whatever to actually try to straight up and kill him to take the corpse after that. As for the "few remaining rebels" remark I had a small epiphany about Mettaton's situation.


	10. In the Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This turned out longer than I expected since I decided to combine it with an old scene I expected never to use.

Food became hard to come across even with all his traps and lures. No humans were falling for weeks now, and less monsters were wandering in the forest. Sans reluctantly decided to scout for something edible in Waterfall. He’d been there before to visit the dump for weapons and get gear for traps. Those visits, however, had been brief and quick as possible. There was a chance he would have to go beyond the dump to the Hotland border.

Sans left the house a few hours after Papyrus fell asleep. He armed himself with things easy to conceal and started walking. Even through the constant pounding inside his skull, he could feel how on edge his senses were becoming. Hunger served to drive him onwards, and thoughts of Papyrus sharpened his instincts.

Sans passed his old sentry station and gave it a once over. Maybe for kicks it should be fixed up, came an offhand thought. The sound of water ahead distracted him from thinking more about it.

No sign of any monsters at this point. Not many stayed in Waterfall, mostly those too habituated to its climate to move to the capital. The Wishing Room’s twinkling lights came into view. The echo flowers, which once murmured the individual dreams of every monster passing through, had become silent. To further the point of dead dreams, they had lost their bright bioluminesce over the years. Sans passed through without giving them much of a glance. Nothing he wasn’t already used to.

Passing through area after area, he became frustrated at not seeing anything alive. No signs or tells existed beyond the surviving undergrowth. The skeleton paused in his trek at the dump deciding to rest on a rusted bicycle. His headache assumed becoming the dominant noise. What else was there to do? There wasn’t any use in over-exerting himself and making things worse.

A few minutes of sitting, and Sans began to hear along with the thuds a softer noise. He honed in on it determined to pounce if necessary.

“............em-” It came again a little louder- “....... **emmie** …..”

Meaning not to cause splashing or squishing noises, the skeleton carefully stepped off the bicycle. He turned and saw, past the edge of a dump heap, a large, vibrating shape. The thudding of his headache sometimes disturbed his vision, but not like this. The shape came closer. Sans could finally make out all the details, mainly because the monster now loomed too close for comfort.

Aaron had grown in size much like Gyftrot. Muscles pulsed under the monster’s skin, hands were dug into the trash to help heave his giant frame around. The serpentine tail stretched out of sight, but Sans figured it was moving to cause the ruckus he had mistaken for his headache. Clamped tight between Aaron’s fangs was a Temmie squeezing her last breaths.

Sans locked gazes with Aaron. He tried to think of which weapon would help him escape quicker. If either of them tried anything monumental, it could result in a trash heap collapsing. Today didn’t feel like a good day to die being crushed to death by garbage.

 

Papyrus noticed Sans missing from the house. He made breakfast, but still no sign of his dear brother. This was very unlike Sans. Papyrus took it upon himself as a member of the Royal Guard, and doting sibling, to look for him. He searched inside the house, outside the house, and finally headed to where his puzzles were being made. The skeleton felt no fear or worry for Sans always took care of himself. He could be irresponsible but still dependable!

Papyrus at last went to the woods he saw Sans walk into a few times before. He had asked Sans why he went there, but never got a clear answer. The nerve! Papyrus kept walking, at intervals calling out Sans’ name. Crossing clearing after clearing, he came upon one that wasn’t vacant.

How odd, there were also a pair of strange objects nearby.

 

Aaron opened his jaws a few times chewing the Temmie up and swallowing her. Sans took the sliver of a distraction as an opportunity. Whipping out his stiletto, he threw it and landed a blow to Aaron’s left eye. The horse monster let out an enraged neigh, thrashed his tail, and swiped at Sans with a clawed hand. The skeleton dodged and rolled heading deeper into the dump. Aaron followed neighing and making the trash mounds tremble. Sans kept an eye on them hoping one would topple over soon. He had resorted to throwing knives in order to keep Aaron from using his wits. If the monster had any in the first place.

Sans ran by a heap in particular and darted a glance at it. He thought, for a second, near its top something move. Another second, and when Aaron passed by the tremors caused it to fall. His midsection became trapped, and the resulting tantrum caused a corresponding trash mountain to fall as well. Sans stopped running and watched as Aaron clawed angrily in his direction.

A few moments later, he seemed to resign to the fact his prey would remain out of bounds. Aaron began a laborious process of squirming backwards made difficult by his musclebound limbs. Only when the horse monster had gone out of sight and earshot did Sans take a breather.

 

Papyrus stepped around the mess of chopped wood and found a pile of clothes. Picking them up, and brushing off the snowmelt, he found they belonged to Sans. Good heavens, what was his brother up to! He couldn’t carry everything, so Papyrus sufficed to bring the jacket with him. The skeleton continued his diligent search. Out of the corner of his eye, a shadow moved his way.

 

Sans ignored the headache, rubbing the space above his mouth. As expected, blood began to drip down from all his running around. When he heard from behind the sound of a single footstep the skeleton paused in his action. He acted quick, summoning a thigh bone and turning on his heel. When he felt the bone collide with something, he automatically moved to pin the stranger down. One hand on their throat, he went to deal the finishing blow.

“Sans?” The reason he paused was to try and recognize the face beneath him. A memory jogged from long ago; a familiar face only seen once on a television screen.

“Mettaton,” he answered flatly.

“Oh-Oh-Oh! I knew it was **you** ,” answered the robot, in his EX form, with a smile. His voice fuzzed on certain words. “You never change, **darling**! Much like myself.”

Sans dissipated the bone and stood. No point in killing what he couldn’t eat. Mettaton struggled to sit up his body creaking and groaning with effort. He didn’t appear at all unnerved by the sounds or just being almost killed.

“I-I-I **daresay** I’ve remained much the same. Except for **my body** , shamefully enough.”

“why are you here?” Sans wanted to leave, to continue looking, but he might as well find out. Mettaton appeared all too happy to keep talking.

“I haven’t **had a good** tune up in years. I come here **with my fol** lowers to luh-look for parts, **darling**.” At the mention of followers, Sans peered around witnessing four other monsters crawl out from behind the fallen trash heaps. They came within a respectful distance eyes kept on Mettaton. The robot continued smiling cordially at Sans, but he felt like he’d had enough of talking to his old boss.

“well, it was nice catchin’ up. i gotta get goin’ as you know.” Sans started to walk past, but Mettaton reached out to lay a gentle hand on his leg. He stopped considering how hard it would be to take on four monsters. Too hard, even desperate as he was beginning to feel.

“I **s-s-saved** you Sans. Could I receive some **thanks**? Maybe-Maybe a visit to my hideaway in the **re-resort**?”

“....thanks Mettaton. i’ll think about it.”

The robot smiled and withdrew the hand. Sans continued walking heading back to Snowdin. The Waterfall visit not only had been a bust but cost him some gear. His mind continued listing the various faults all the way back to Snowdin.

 

Sans passed his house knowing Papyrus by now was out puzzle building. He expected a lecture of some sort. Instead, he found his brother missing. So, he walked farther, and farther, until he came up to the door to the Ruins. His brother never missed a day of work. Panic finally set his mind ablaze.

Visions of the worst kind filtered inside Sans’ mind’s eye as he walked into the woods. He looked for signs, any signs, but saw none. Traps were sprung, but the catch either not there or the wrong corpse. No blood trails or worse yet to be seen.

“Papyrus? Papyrus! _Pap!_ ” Sans ran as he called out. Trees blurred, but he didn’t care about getting lost. His brother was out there; he could never have gotten far. Coming into earshot were the sounds of a fight. Shouts and grunts he followed ignoring the pounding and roaring in his skull.

“ _PAPYRUS!_ ”

His brother stood over the slumped body of a monster. Blood flecked his bones and pooled onto the snow. Their limbs twitched as the life drained out of them. He had stopping swinging at hearing Sans call his name.

All at once, the panic ceased flowing through him. A calm acceptance of what Papyrus had been forced into doing settled over him. Even his headache quailed at how unearthly calm he suddenly became. Sans walked forwards approaching at a slow pace. The taller skeleton refused to turn and look at him.

“Pap, are you ok?”

Papyrus turned his head, the expression on his face blank. Sans noticed how slack his arms were.

“They chased and I had no choice.”

Sans nodded and held out his arms. Papyrus stared before recognizing that he should be kneeling down. The shorter skeleton wrapped him tight in an embrace. They remained close together taking their time to reach equilibrium between life and pain again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To further explain Mettaton: When the starvation really hit the Underground, he went into hiding with a few members of his fanclub. Mettaton doesn’t approve of Undyne’s reign and policies concerning humans; she wants him found in order to use him for his anti-human combat features. The fanclub, now turned cult, members are used by him to find pieces of metal scrap to keep his body from falling apart. He's always in a constant state of disrepair. He acts the most like himself, but this side of him is fragile and easily made paranoid of being found. He hides near the desolated MTT Resort whose rooms are used by monsters fleeing the capital (he calls it hiding under Empress's nose).


	11. When It's Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Are things changing for better or for worse down here?
> 
> Also I'd like to say updates will be slower due to college and internet being unreliable where I am.

Sans took a cat nap at his station. The pain in his head receding, he fell into a pleasant unconsciousness. Naps were about all he could manage anymore with no way to numb his skull (despite being called said numbskull). Ever the light sleeper, he did happen to overhear the cries of dismay in the distance. His brother was puzzling a human visitor today.

If it were possible, Papyrus seemed to have become even more compelled to hone his craft in the last few weeks. Sans had helped him search high and low for inspiration taking already made products and envisioning them anew. They had a more deadly gleam to them when remade by his brother. Sans admitted to himself, he admired the new spin. Yet, there lingered a certain hopelessness to it all.

A scream rocked the inside of his skull. Sans winced and frowned his sleep disturbed. He sat up knowing the game was at an end. Fingers tapping on the counter he waited. Papyrus trotted into view dragging a part of the corpse with him.

"BROTHER! THE HUMAN FAILED THE PUZZLE!"

"how unfortunate. but you, uh, seem armed for destruction there, bro." He eyed the limb freshly ripped from the socket judging by the amount of blood dripping from the tendons. The taller skeleton gleamed at his observation.

"NYEH HEH HEH! THEY ASKED FOR HELP AND, WELL, I AM NOT ONE TO TURN DOWN THE CHANCE TO GIVE A HELPING HAND!"

"heh. was that pun intentional?" His brother's face paused in its excitement.

" _SAAAANS!_ "

He laughed as Papyrus stomped in frustration. Despite everything, some parts of him continued to persist even in this rotting timeline. The taller skeleton eventually calmed and began to walk off. The bleeding trophy caught Sans' attention again. He didn't know why, but looking at it gave him a chill.

 

Time dragged on as it tended to do in the Underground. Humans kept falling and getting past Toriel one way or another. Sans felt more inclined to let Papyrus have a shot at taking on the humans. The reason was one he couldn’t quite describe. Part of him didn’t care; if Papyrus was happy then he was happy to leave it at that.

Sometimes, however, Sans couldn't keep the humans from coming across the puzzles before his brother's arrival. When that happened there was only one solution.

There came a morning where Sans had a hard time trying to steer the human in the right direction. The child was proving panic may be the best steroid in existence. They managed to evade and turn tail quicker than Sans could dish out any punishment. Inside his mind, the timer ticked on when his brother would awaken. The precious daily schedule he wished to keep **had to be** preserved for both of them.

The human let out another shrill noise and darted between the tall evergreens. Sans followed in hot pursuit. In his hands were throwing knives easy to find and make these days. He might could get away with injuring them in the leg if they would _stay still a second-_

A crunch disturbed Snowdin forest’s usual silence. This audible crunch of bone being crushed was followed by a series of thuds. Sans froze in his tracks listening for more clues as to what was happening. Whimpers cut off to become gurgled cries for help. Had another monster stolen his prey?

Sans approached the noises, and through the cover of tree branches saw what was unfolding. Then he looked again, and again, still trying to determine if what he saw was true. Papyrus, dressed in orderly fashion, was beating the human to death. He had caught them off guard, managing to bash their head in. Tall and silent, he kept delivering blows to their ribcage. The scene looked reminiscent of an event a few weeks ago.

The chill returned to Sans’ bones. It snuck down to his core and made him feel cold. The foreign sensation made him step back. He stopped paying attention and kept stepping backwards. His mind had become blank save for the steady tempo of his headache. Papyrus’ face had also been blank. Sans stopped moving when the noises were too hard to make out through his headache.

The skeleton stared off into space wondering what to do with himself. Stability lost, where did they go from here? Would every day have a little change to it? Should they change at all? What was so bad about this? The questions kept piling up, and Sans eventually let them fall to the wayside. He tucked away the throwing knives and turned to go to his station. Once there, he settled down for a catnap. These were things best left to the near future version of himself to figure out.


	12. Everyone is King

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A messy, intermissiony chapter as Sans keeps trying to figure himself out. Aren't we all lost at one point?

Sans crossed Hotland warily. There were fewer monsters left here than in Waterfall, but the ones remaining had to be avoided. He didn’t bring any weapons either, he would have to rely entirely on summoning bones. At least this would be a quick...distraction? He honestly didn’t know what compelled him to go out this far away from Papyrus. These days he had been feeling lost. Emotionally speaking, if he had any of that left. _Surely_ had to be that, right?

The resort’s neon lights were gone; torn down it seemed. Inside, the lighting was dim from improper upkeep. Sans skirted around what used to be the lobby fountain. He didn’t want to guess what a mess the dinner theater had become.

A flicker of movement drew the skeleton to the short corridor leading to old guest rooms. Sans could see how a few doors had been ripped off their hinges and instead were propped against the doorframes. No telling who or what was inside them, not that they mattered. He noticed the arm of a monster waving for him to follow from the corridor’s far end. Strange, it appeared to stick right out of the wall.

It should have ended at a wall painted black, but upon coming closer the arm disappeared inside through a barrier. Sans tensed, his instincts feeling this could be a trap. He passed through the barrier headache accompanying his every step due to the lack of noise. The resort sounded deserted, and this place even more so.

The other side of the barrier revealed a black space stretching out in all directions. Or, well, it seemed infinite but prodding on either side revealed it to be a narrow hallway. The monster that had been leading him walked farther down and turned right at a wooden sign. Didn’t even bother to check if he was following. Passing by the sign, Sans noticed how the lettering had long since faded.

“ **Darling!** So glad you took-took my **advice**!” Mettaton called out the instant he came into sight. The robot was seated upon a pile of rags meant to make him comfortable. Mixed in with the rags, Sans noticed, many bits and pieces of scrap metal. On the outer edges of the black room, for its walls and floor were purely obsidian to say the least, were Mettaton’s followers. Some had their eyes on Mettaton, some were staring off into space, and others watching Sans as he took a few more steps in out of hallway. There weren’t many of them, and they didn’t seem interested in talking. Sans didn’t either now that he thought about it.

“yeah, figured i needed the air.”

“ **There’s cer** -certainly plenty of it here! I sh-should **say** this is **quite** ingenious of me!” Mettaton gestured around himself. “Hiding **so close** to the Emp **ress**! No-No matter how- **how** much she wants me-me! Never, **never** will she, **she** get **me**!”

Sans knew the smile on the robot’s face. Forced and ingenuine. No amount of acting could hide what could be heard in his voice, either. Sans had been around enough paranoid monsters to recognize it. Short as this trip felt, the skeleton knew he had to leave before something happened. Something he didn’t want to be a part of no matter what.

“welp, seems you have everything figured out.” Distantly, a memory floated in of the last time Sans was so close to where the Empress lived.

“My, darling, don’t you kn-kno-”

“but i think i’ve been out long enough.” It had not ended well. Neither would this, he guessed offhand.

“Oh-oh! Sans **wait**!”

The fuzzing on the last word kept the skeleton from turning around and making for a getaway. What else was he going to learn today?

“......” Mettaton filled the silence with radiostatic as he thought of what to say. The followers shifted around staring and mumbling. It took a couple of minutes to be broken. “Say, you st-still tell jokes?”

“on occasion.” A steady beat, beat, beat of the head-drum. This is where it had come into being, after all.

“Good. Vuh- **Very** well and good.”

Sans turned and went. He felt Mettaton had more to say, but he didn’t want to hear it. Knowing less he would _suffer_ less. Knowing too much never appealed to him. Not anymore at least? No remorse at how defeated the robot’s voice sounded.

The skeleton on the return trip stopped briefly in Waterfall. The heat of Hotland managed to agitate his headache to where Sans had to sit and let it cool. He figured the area where the Riverboat Person used to appear was safe enough. Humming nonsense, Sans listened as the harsh thrum calmed and cooled to its usual, tolerable throbbing. Just in time, a boat seemed to be drifting into view from downstream. Sans quickly made his way out. He _had_ said knowing less was better. Having an incident similar to Aaron was also something to avoid. Waterfall be damned.


End file.
